I once read a variety of answers to this question and was struck by a common theme. Just about everyone mentioned one person in particular. There was one person in their lives, outside…
Several popular playlists have a piano solo which, if I had written it, I would have dismissed as too easy. It uses simple chord progressions and could probably be played with one hand.
Poor authors. Together with their publisher they hone their book, fuss over every detail, and broadcast, broadcast, broadcast its existence and purpose and still — people in its intended audience don’t get the point.
I blogged a couple weeks ago about the Trapp Family Singers. We have their story and The Sound of Music for one simple reason. Captain von Trapp’s bank failed. They went public with their singing for the money.
I had a keyboard synthesizer in high school with an onboard multitracker so I could layer recorded sounds. It was pretty sweet technology in its day. In college I told another composition student about it.
“I’ve heard that kids learn music faster than adults,” said one of my adult students. My own observations from teaching piano are the contrary.* Adults quickly catch on to concepts that grade schoolers take years to mount.
One way or another, it's back to school month. And one way or another, it's back to music studies for many families. So you'll see a couple posts this month with thoughts on music education. Here's the first serving, something…
We drove home from Nutter’s Ice Cream in an unforgettable evening light. Daughter exclaimed at the frozen explosion in the west, issuing a red-pink brilliance so thick it seemed like the sun had literally rested on that corner of Jefferson…
John Philip Sousa was enormously successful, and it’s not just because of the quality of his music. He understood how to deliver music to people where they already were.
1. He wrote and conducted for a medium that reached a…
The Spirit of Jefferson and Farmer's Advocatepublished a story this week about the Battlescapes project. Reading it was like opening a time capsule; I had been interviewed for it four months ago. Already since then, I’ve mentally moved on…
Hit songs are hits for a reason. There’s a combination of catchiness, uniqueness, and lyricism that wins so much loyalty that the song becomes self-propelling.
The very idea of a hit song seems to begin with radio and vinyl records…
I was nursed on light jazz and CCM, weaned on secular and Christian rock-alternative, tutored by Bach and Beethoven (and spanked by Rachmaninoff), described by Sara Groves, and charmed by samba, bluegrass, Yo-Yo Ma, and Edgar Meyer.
Music is a servant. Sometimes it is center-stage, but usually it’s supplementing some other thing. It’s the soundtrack to a film, or the animator of a dance, or the atmosphere of a party, or the distraction-soothing ambience of the office.
I'm still testing out this analogy, but I often think that life is like a vine. Beauty - the delight and interpretation we derive from life - is the wine, extracted from the vine in a process of violence and…
We finally got one of those family photos where everyone looks pretty good in a beautiful destination. Now I know why they are a popular thing to share:
They’re costly.
There’s a lot of risk represented in the picture. It…
It must have been twenty years ago. At a November youth group meeting, we divided into little circles and said or prayed something we were thankful for.
I looked down at my hands. One of them had scars on both…
Jacob brought a Winslow Homer print of Snap the Whip to our household. The folks who gave it to him understood that to use this gift, it needed a frame. They couldn't get a nice one, but they got a…
Literature professor Laurence Perrine sums up literature as either interpretative or escapist (or a blend thereof). A classicist might instead say the function of literature is to teach and delight.
I think these categories can be applied pretty well, in…